I am interested in opening an account with your firm to trade equities in foreign countries. Could you please provide me with a list of countries I will be able to trade in and the commission structure for the trades. In addition, I do a large amount of traveling and want to know my options for placing trades. Can I trade online through my labtop or do I have to phone in.
Thank You
Keith Massey
Dear Keith Massey,
Thank you for your message. Although issues listed on foreign exchanges are not available through WebBroker (only major U.S. and Canadian exchanges can be accessed), you may be able to order securities listed on foreign exchanges through our team of international traders.
There are unique commission schedules applied to each specific country. Depending upon the trading scenario, there could also be special levies or securities exchange fees involved. The principal trade and any levies or exchange fees will be calculated in the relevant currency with a currency conversion applied afterwards (Canadian or U.S. dollars). Buy and sell orders are considered to be separate transactions for commission purposes, and all commissions are calculated in the currency of settlement (U.S. or Canadian dollars).
In Europe, you should be able to place orders for issues listed on exchanges located in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
For the rest of the world, you should be able to place orders for issues listed on exchanges found in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Phillippines, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand.
A good web site for foreign exhange listings and information is www.yahoo.com. Scroll to the bottom of the site, and select the country you wish to explore (e.g. U.K., Australia, etc.) Then click the "Finance"
link.
For complete details regarding the order process, please contact an Investment Representative at your local TD Waterhouse office, or dial a representative at 1-800-465-LINE.
Yours Sincerely,
Electronic Brokerage Services Help Desk
TD Waterhouse Investor Services
My comments:
Although they hinted at it (e.g. special levies or securities exchange fees involved) they did not come right out and say that their commission for foreign trading is also very high, although I have first hand knowledge that it is. Last night I used my TD Greenline acount to sell $19,000 of CDN on the Austr. exchange (CDM on CDNX). I had to go through 2 menus and a person to get to the foreign trading desk and was on the phone for over 10 minutes. I had to do this by phone since you can't use the online services to do foreign trades. The commission was $450. In addition to this cost, there is the also the currency conversion costs for the trade which I am sure will make me cringe. I still don't have the fill reported back in my account.
Best Regards
KEITH |
